Clinical, laboratory characteristics and growth outcomes of children with growing pains

Area of Science:

• Pediatrics
• Child Health
• Musculoskeletal Disorders

Background:

• Growing pains (GP) are common, benign childhood leg pain syndromes with unknown causes.
• Current diagnosis relies on exclusion due to a lack of standardized criteria.
• Understanding GP's clinical and laboratory features is crucial for accurate diagnosis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify clinical and laboratory features associated with growing pains in children.
• To investigate the potential role of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) as biomarkers for GP.
• To determine if rapid growth is linked to the occurrence of GP.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective cohort study of 268 children under 12 diagnosed with GP.
• Analysis of clinical features, including pain characteristics and physical examination findings.
• Comparison of body mass index (BMI) z-scores before and after diagnosis to assess growth velocity.

Main Results:

• Common GP features included bilateral leg pain, intermittent pain, normal physical exams, and no activity limitation.
• Elevated serum ALP (37.5%) and LDH (15.6%) levels were observed in a significant portion of patients.
• No significant association was found between GP and rapid growth within two years of diagnosis.

Conclusions:

• Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) may be potential biomarkers for growing pains.
• The diagnosis of growing pains relies on characteristic clinical symptoms and exclusion of other conditions.
• Rapid growth does not appear to be a significant factor associated with growing pains in this cohort.